China has a lot more missiles with US warships and bases in its sights [Video]

American warships and bases in the Pacific are within reach of an increasingly worrying threat, a daunting missile force unlike any the US has faced in combat before.

China’s ever-expanding Rocket Force is armed with thousands of missiles with ominous nicknames such as “carrier killers” and the “Guam Express.”

US military leaders and officials say these weapons could make a war in the Indo-Pacific devastating for American forces. And that’s exactly the message they say Beijing wants to send, that messing with China would be catastrophic.

The dangers are startling. An American air base such as Andersen on Guam that routinely hosts US bombers or a carrier strike group sailing in the South China Sea could face dozens, even hundreds, of ballistic missiles in salvos intended to overwhelm their defenses, shatter critical capabilities, and send US warships sinking into the depths. China’s missiles haven’t been tested in combat, but the …